Sunday, July 6, 2014

Window on Eurasia: Russian Occupiers Block Another Crimean Tatar Leader from Returning to His Homeland

Paul
Goble

Staunton, July 6 – Yesterday, the
Russian occupation authorities in Crimea blocked Refat Chubarov, head of the
Crimean Tatar Mejlis, from returning to his homeland from Kherson Oblast where
he was attending a meeting, an action that repeats their exclusion of Mustafa Cemilev
on May 3 and that is now a key part of Moscow’s effort to rein in the Crimean
Tatars.

When one of the occupation officials
read the order to Chubarov at what they view as the border between Ukraine and
Russia, the Mejlis leader asked that it be read to him in Crimean Tatar as the
new Crimean constitution requires.Not
surprisingly, the Russian official refused to do so (ru.krymr.com/content/article/25446620.html).

When he was banned from entering
what Moscow considers Russian territory for five years, Cemilev said that it
was entirely possible that the Russian authorities would apply the same measure
against others to limit their contacts with Crimean Tatars and supporters
abroad and to try to break the resistance of his nation (ru.krymr.com/content/article/25446534.html).

Three aspects of yesterday’s action should
be kept in mind. First, in many respects, such actions by the occupiers represent
an updated version of Soviet policy when dissidents or others Moscow did not
approve of were in some cases allowed to travel abroad and then stripped of
their Soviet citizenship so that they could not return.

Second, the Russian occupation
authorities are engaged in what can only be described as “a law-like” but
illegal action. That is, they are violating the Russian Constitution which they
claim now governs life in Crimea, but they are doing so in a way that is likely
to create the illusion that they are acting “legally.”

And third, because such actions are
obviously intended to divide the Crimean Tatars and make them less able to
defend their nation and more amenable to the demands of the Russian occupation authorities,
they approach if do not yet constitute an act of genocide as defined by the
United Nations convention.

But however that may be, this latest
action of the Russian occupation authorities is yet another reason why the
international community must not forget Crimea and the Crimean Tatars even as
many in the West focus on the victories of Ukrainian forces against
Moscow-backed secessionists elsewhere in Ukraine.